JP2007052195A - Method for manufacturing brush and its utilization - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a brush having desired performance, especially, desired contacting property with an object and suitably used for a conductive device used for an image forming apparatus such as a printer, a copying machine or a facsimile machine. <P>SOLUTION: The surface of a brush cloth 10 is held into a projecting state to a solvent 31 by a roller 60. A distance between the brush cloth 10 and the liquid level (upper level) of the solvent 31 is adjusted so that the solvent may adhere to a desired position from the tips of brush bristles 14. Since the brush bristles 14 are immersed in the solvent to the desired position from the tips thereof, they are split to the desired position from the tips thereof. As a result, the brush bristles having desired rigidity are formed. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a brush and the use thereof, and more particularly to a method for manufacturing a brush including brush hairs that have become fine fibers by splitting, and a typical use thereof. The present invention particularly relates to a method of manufacturing a brush having conductivity.

  In an electrophotographic image forming apparatus, as a conductive device, a charging device for charging a charged body such as a photoconductor, a static eliminator for discharging the charged body, or for removing unnecessary toner from the photoconductor A cleaning device (hereinafter sometimes referred to as a charging device or the like) is used. For these charging devices and the like, a brush having conductive brush bristles, that is, a conductive brush is used. The conductive brush realizes functions such as charging required for each device by discharging the injected charge from the brush hair, receiving the charge, or generating an electrostatic force. Such a conductive brush is formed through processes such as fixing a brush cloth having brush hairs formed on a base cloth to a roll shaft or the like.

  In order to form a good image, it is desired that the charged object is uniformly charged by the conductive brush. As a method for uniformly charging the member to be charged, there is a method for increasing the contact point between the conductive brush and the member to be charged. As a method of increasing the contact point in this way, it has been proposed to form fine brush hairs by using a technique for splitting fibers to obtain fine fibers, that is, splitting techniques (for example, patents). Literatures 1-3).

  The splitting method is roughly classified into a chemical splitting method and a physical splitting method. The chemical method includes a method of removing a specific component from a fiber composed of a plurality of components with a solvent. Further, as a physical method, there are a method of splitting a fiber by a mechanical force such as a jig and a method of peeling a peelable fiber by a mechanical force or thermal contraction. In addition, exfoliation type | mold fiber is a composite fiber which consists of two components which are incompatible and easy to peel, and obtains a fine fiber by peeling these two components.

  For example, in Patent Documents 1 and 2, a seaweed fiber plain weave sheet is immersed in sodium hydroxide and the sea part is hydrolyzed to generate fine fibers, or split fibers (corresponding to peelable fibers) are used. A technique is described in which a raised sheet is produced by generating fine fibers by a high-pressure water flow with respect to a plain weave sheet produced by use, and a charged roller is produced by winding the raised sheet around a roller.

Further, Patent Document 3 utilizes a method of simply mechanically splitting fibers, and is configured to be rotatable by a cored bar as a cylindrical base and a large number of brush fibers provided on the surface thereof. Describes a technique in which the tip of a brush fiber is split into a plurality of small-diameter fibers by pressing while rotating a jig having a thin blade-like cut groove on the surface of the charged roller. ing.
Patent No. 3333213 (Registered July 26, 2002) Patent No. 3287760 (registered on March 15, 2002) Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 8-6357 (released on January 12, 1996) JP 2004-113937 A (released on April 15, 2004)

  However, the conventional technique has the following problems.

  First, in a conventional brush manufacturing method using a chemical splitting method, for example, in Patent Documents 1 and 2, a plain weave sheet made of sea-island fibers is immersed in alkali to hydrolyze the sea part. The entire brush cloth is split by immersing it in a solvent. Therefore, the entire brush bristles and even the base fabric are affected by the solvent. In such a method, since the entire bristle is split, the stiffness of the bristle may become too low. For this reason, there may be a problem that desired contactability cannot be obtained or the brush hair falls down. When the brush hair falls (falls down), the contact between the object such as an object to be charged and the brush hair is not uniform.

  In the conventional method, the base fabric is also affected by the solvent, so that the strength of the base fabric is weakened. Further, the entire brush cloth is affected by the solvent in this manner, so that the connecting portion between the base cloth and the brush hair is loosened, and the brush hair falls down or falls off. This problem will be specifically described by taking a pile fabric as an example.

  As shown in FIG. 7, the pile fabric 10 is one in which a pile yarn 14 is woven into a U shape by pile weaving on a base fabric 11 composed of weft yarns 12 and warp yarns 13. In the conventional brush manufacturing method, as described above, the entire pile fabric 10 in which the pile yarn (brush hair) 14 is a sea-island type fiber is immersed in an alkali or the like. Then, the portion of the bristle 14 woven into the base fabric 11 is also affected by alkali and becomes thin. As a result, the strength of the base fabric 11 is weakened, and the connection between the brush hairs 14 and the base fabric 11 is loosened, and falling or hair removal is likely to occur.

  In the case of a conductive brush, a conductive back coat 15 may be applied to the surface opposite to the brush bristles 14 of the base fabric 11, but by immersing the entire pile fabric 10 in an alkali, The back coat 15 may deteriorate and the electrical resistance value may change. When the electrical resistance of the back coat changes in this way, there may arise a problem that desired performance cannot be obtained as a conductive brush. In the case of an insulating brush, a back coat (not necessarily conductive) is formed to prevent the brush hair from falling off.

  In addition, when the peelable fiber is split by a physical method to form a fine fiber, foreign matter remains on the split surface of the fine fiber, and uniform brush hair cannot be obtained. Further, the length of the fine fiber cannot be strictly controlled.

  Further, for example, as in Patent Document 3, it is impossible to make the cross-sectional shape of the obtained fine fiber into a desired shape by simply splitting the fiber with a mechanical force. For this reason, the brush hairs are not uniform, and the contact property with the object cannot be controlled.

  As described above, it has been difficult to manufacture a high-quality brush having desired performance by the conventional brush manufacturing method.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described conventional problems, and its purpose is to provide a high-quality brush, in particular, a brush having a desired contact property with an object such as an object to be charged, a manufacturing method thereof, and a representative thereof. To provide usage.

  The method for manufacturing a brush according to the present invention includes a splitting process for chemically splitting a brush including a base and brush bristles formed on the base from the tip of the brush bristles to a predetermined position. It is characterized by including.

  According to the said structure, the contact property of a brush and a target object can be strictly controlled, and the brush which has desired contact property can be manufactured. That is, in the method for splitting the bristle of the present invention, the stiffness of the bristle can be adjusted by splitting from the tip of the bristle to a predetermined position. Further, by preventing the solvent from adhering to the connecting portion between the base and the bristle, it is possible to prevent the bristle from falling and falling off.

  In addition, unlike physical splitting, the shape of fine fibers after splitting can be strictly controlled, so that fine fibers having a desired shape can be manufactured in accordance with the purpose.

  Further, the brush bristles include a composite fiber including a dissolving portion that is dissolved by a solvent and a non-dissolving portion, and a method for manufacturing the brush includes a solvent adhesion step of adhering the solvent from the tip of the brush bristles to a predetermined position. It is preferable to contain.

  The solvent preferably has a high viscosity.

  According to the said structure, it becomes easy to control strictly the position where a solvent adheres among brush hairs. Therefore, there is an effect that the length of the fine fiber can be controlled more strictly. In particular, the dissolution part is made of an alkali-soluble substance, the solvent is an aqueous sodium hydroxide solution, and the sodium hydroxide concentration in the aqueous solution is preferably 10% or more.

  The base may be a flexible base fabric or a non-flexible base.

  When the base is a base having inflexibility, a fixing step of fixing a brush cloth having brush hairs formed on the flexible base fabric to the base before the splitting step is included. It is preferable.

  Moreover, the manufacturing method of the brush which the said base part is a base which has inflexibility, and performs the flocking process of flocking a brush hair to the said base before the said split fiber process is also contained in this invention.

  In addition, the brush manufactured by the said manufacturing method is also contained in this invention.

  The present invention is a brush comprising a base and bristle formed on the base, wherein the fine fibers from the tip of the bristle to a predetermined position, and the cross section of the fine fibers has an edge. Some brushes do not have it.

  Since the brush does not have an edge, it hardly damages an object that is in sliding contact with the brush. Also, in the case of a conductive brush, if there are edges in the fine fibers, the discharge tends to concentrate from there. Such concentration of discharge may cause uneven charging of the object (charged body). On the other hand, in the brush of the present invention, since the cross section of the fine fiber does not have an edge, the discharge does not concentrate and the object (charged body) can be charged uniformly. In addition, as a manufacturing method of a brush provided with the fine fiber of such a shape, the method mentioned above can be used very suitably.

  Further, the brush hair may have conductivity. Such a brush can be suitably used as a conductive brush.

  The present invention also includes a conductive device including the brush and an image forming apparatus including the brush.

  As described above, the method for splitting the bristle according to the present invention provides a chemical treatment from a tip of the bristle to a predetermined position with respect to a brush having a base and bristle formed on the base. Including a splitting process for splitting into two.

  Therefore, the bristle having the desired rigidity can be formed. By utilizing this method, a brush having desired contact with the object can be manufactured.

  Moreover, the brush which concerns on this invention can also be set as the structure by which the cross section of the said fine fiber does not have an edge from the front-end | tip of a bristle to a predetermined position.

  The brush does not easily damage the object, and can uniformly charge the object when used as a conductive brush.

<1. Manufacturing method of brush>
The method for manufacturing a brush according to the present invention includes a splitting process for chemically splitting a brush including a base and brush hairs formed on the base from the tip of the brush hair to a predetermined position. Include it. That is, there are no particular limitations on other configurations such as other steps included. Below, the manufacturing method of a brush is demonstrated in detail.

(1-1) Brush In this invention, a brush should just be provided with the base and the bristle formed on the said base, and other shapes, structures, materials, etc. are not limited.

  The base may be made of a flexible or inflexible material, and the shape and the like are not particularly limited. In the present embodiment, when distinguishing between a brush having a flexible base and a brush having an inflexible base, the former may be referred to as a brush cloth and the base of the brush cloth may be referred to as a base cloth. Examples of the base fabric include a woven fabric obtained by weaving synthetic fibers, natural fibers, semi-synthetic fibers, and regenerated fibers, a nonwoven fabric composed of these fibers, or a resin or rubber sheet. The bristles in the brush cloth may be woven by pile weaving on the base cloth or may be flocked. In other words, the brush cloth may be a pile fabric or a flocking material. Although it does not specifically limit as a flocking method, For example, electrostatic flocking etc. are mentioned.

  Below, the conventional pile fabric shown in FIG. 7 is demonstrated to an example as a brush cloth. Therefore, the member of the code | symbol 10 may be called "brush cloth". Since FIG. 7 has already been described, the description thereof is omitted here. In the case of a conductive brush, a back coat 15 is applied. As the back coat material, a material in which carbon is dispersed in SBR (styrene butadiene rubber) is preferably used.

  In addition, although the shape of a brush hair differs before and after splitting, both may be called a brush hair. The same applies to the brush. In addition, when distinguishing the brush hair before and after splitting, at least a part of the split bristle is split split bristle, and the split brush bristle is divided into fine fibers. Called.

  Specific examples of brushes having an inflexible base include roll-type and flat-type brushes. In this specification, an inflexible base is referred to as a base and is distinguished from a flexible base (base fabric). The brush having the base may be formed by fixing the above-described brush cloth on the base, or may be formed by directly planting brush hairs on the base. As a method for flocking, electrostatic flocking can be used as described for the brush cloth.

  The base is not particularly limited in material and shape, and can be appropriately changed according to the brush to be manufactured. For example, the cross-sectional shape may be a circular rod shape or a cylindrical shape, or a flat plate shape. In the case of a brush including a brush cloth and a base, a method conventionally used in a method for manufacturing a brush can be applied as a method for fixing the brush cloth. For example, fixing by bonding with an adhesive, fixing by a fastener, and the like can be given.

  FIG. 8 shows a roll type brush, and FIG. 9 shows a plan view of a flat type brush. In the present embodiment, these brushes are obtained by fixing a brush cloth to a base. In addition, about the member same as the member demonstrated in FIG. 7, the same code | symbol is attached | subjected and the description is abbreviate | omitted. Although the shape of the brush hair is different before and after splitting, for convenience of explanation, FIGS. 8 and 9 represent both brushes before and after splitting.

  As shown in FIG. 8, the roll-type brush 21 includes a shaft 20 as a support portion, and a brush cloth 10 fixed to the shaft 20 by bonding or the like with the bristles 14 facing outward. When manufacturing such a roll type brush, the brush cloth is cut into a long shape. Then, the brush cloth 10 may be spirally wound around the shaft 20 with the bristle 14 side facing outward.

  As shown in FIG. 9, the flat brush 25 includes a flat plate 24 and a brush cloth 10 fixed to the flat plate 24 by adhesion or the like. In this case, if the brush cloth is cut according to the flat plate 24 or cut to be smaller than the flat plate 24, then the brush cloth 14 is fixed on the flat plate 24 so as to be in contact with the flat plate 24 on the surface opposite to the brush bristles 14. Good.

  What is necessary is just to determine the raw material of the bristle before splitting by the combination with the solvent used at a splitting process. The material of the brush hair will be described in detail in the following (1-2) column.

(1-2) Splitting method The manufacturing method of the brush of this invention should just include the splitting method demonstrated below as a splitting process.

  In the present invention, “chemically split” is a method other than the conventional physical splitting method and is not particularly limited. As a method of “chemically splitting”, specifically, the brush bristle includes a composite fiber having a dissolving part dissolved by a solvent and a non-dissolving part, and the dissolving part is dissolved by the solvent. By making it, the method of splitting a bristle is mentioned.

  Specifically, the composite fiber is a fiber produced by composite spinning two or more incompatible components. Examples of the composite fibers include sea-island fibers and core-sheath fibers. In the case of sea-island type fibers, the dissolved portion becomes the sea portion and the non-dissolved portion becomes the island portion, and the sea portion is dissolved and removed by the splitting process. As the dissolving portion and the non-dissolving portion, materials used in conventional sea-island fibers can be suitably used. A specific combination of the sea part, the island part, and the solvent will be described in the following (1-2) column. In addition, the bristle before splitting may be one in which a plurality of conjugate fibers are woven as a bundle, or may be one in which the conjugate fibers are planted in units of one.

  The solvent used in the present invention may be any substance that dissolves the dissolving portion and does not dissolve the non-dissolving portion. For example, a polyethylene-based hydrolyzable resin is used as the dissolving portion, and a non-hydrolyzing resin such as a polyamide-based, polyolefin-based, or polyacrylic-based resin is used as the non-dissolving portion, and the dissolving portion is hydrolyzed with acid or alkali. Thus, fine fibers made of a non-hydrolyzable resin may be obtained. More specifically, the dissolving portion is made of hydrolyzable resin PET (alkali readily soluble PET), the non-dissolving portion is non-hydrolyzable resin nylon-6, and the dissolving portion is made of alkaline sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide aqueous solution. May be hydrolyzed. Table 1 shows combinations of other dissolved portions, non-dissolved portions, and solvents. In Table 1, P.I. P means polypropylene.

  Since the brush manufacturing method of the present invention chemically splits the bristle in this way, the cross-sectional shape of the fine fibers can be made a desired shape.

  For example, when splitting simply by mechanical force, such as pressing a jig having a thin cutting groove, it is impossible to control the cross-sectional shape of the resulting fine fiber.

  On the other hand, the method for manufacturing a brush of the present invention can determine the shape of a portion that becomes a fine fiber when forming a composite fiber contained in the brush hair before splitting. For example, when forming a composite fiber by extrusion from a nozzle, the cross-sectional shape of a portion that becomes a fine fiber can be controlled by the shape of the nozzle. In particular, it is preferable that the cross-sectional shape of the portion to be a fine fiber does not have an edge. The bristles provided with such fine fibers are particularly excellent as conductive brushes, as will be described later.

  Further, in the splitting process in the manufacturing method of the brush of the present invention, the dissolved part is removed by a solvent to obtain a fine fiber composed of a non-dissolved part. No extra components remain between the fibers. As a result, the component of the part where the manufactured brush comes into contact with the object becomes more uniform. In particular, in the case of a conductive brush, in order to uniformly charge an object, it is preferable that the components at the contact portion are uniform. Therefore, the method for manufacturing a brush according to the present invention is very suitable for manufacturing a conductive brush. Can be used.

  The splitting process according to the present invention splits “from the tip of the bristles to a predetermined position”. The “predetermined position” is not particularly limited as long as it is between the tip of the bristle and the root of the bristle (which can also be referred to as a connecting portion between the bristle and the base). What is necessary is just to set suitably according to the purpose of use.

  FIG. 10 is a perspective view of the brush hair before and after the splitting process. (A) of FIG. 10 shows the brush hair before the splitting process, and (b) and (c) show the split brush hair after the splitting process. In FIG. 10, for convenience of explanation, it is assumed that the bristles 14 before splitting are formed on the base fabric 11 in units of composite fibers.

As shown in FIG. 10, the split fiber bristles 1 according to the present embodiment are split into a fine fiber 17 from the tip to a predetermined position. In other words, the predetermined length I (I ₁ , I ₂ ) from the tip of the split fiber bristle 1 is the fine fiber 17.

The length I (I ₁ , I ₂ ) of the fine fibers is determined by controlling the length of the bristle to which the solvent adheres in the above-described splitting process, particularly the adhesion process described later. As described above, the length I (I ₁ , I ₂ ) of the fine fibers may be equal to or less than the length H from the tip of the brush hair before splitting to the base fabric, and the target splitting brush It can be set as appropriate according to the rigidity of the bristles.

  Thus, in order to split from the tip of the bristle to a predetermined position, the solvent may be attached only to the portion of the bristle to be split. That is, the solvent may be attached from the tip of the bristles to the predetermined position described above. A specific method for controlling the position where the solvent adheres will be described later.

  The solvent used in the splitting process of the present invention preferably has a high viscosity. As a result, dripping of the solvent, penetration from the tip of the bristles toward the base fabric, and the like are less likely to occur, so the position where the solvent adheres and, in turn, the length of the fine fibers can be controlled more precisely.

  When the solvent is a liquid, even if the solvent is attached only to the tip of the brush hair, the solvent oozes toward the base fabric by the capillary phenomenon. Depending on the viscosity of the solvent, this stain may cause the length of the bristles to be treated with the solvent, that is, the length of the fine fibers, to be longer than the desired length. In this case, there is a risk that brush hair having a desired rigidity cannot be obtained, or the solvent reaches the base fabric.

  The high viscosity is not particularly limited as long as the viscosity is higher than that of the solvent used for fiber splitting in the production of a conventional brush. The high viscosity includes a solid state. In the case of a solid, the solvent adheres to the bristles by being scraped off by the bristles.

  In addition, a viscosity changes with temperature and generally a viscosity falls, so that it becomes high temperature. The viscosity also changes depending on the concentration of the solvent, and the viscosity decreases as the concentration decreases. For example, when a sodium hydroxide (NaOH) aqueous solution is used as a solvent and the solvent is deposited at room temperature (about 20 ° C.), the NaOH concentration is preferably 10% or more. This will be described below.

  When splitting the entire brush hair (see FIG. 10B), the NaOH concentration is preferably 10% or more, and more preferably less than 40%. Moreover, it is preferable to set it as 15 to 25%, especially 20%. This is because the solvent can be applied to the entire bristles by using the stains by attaching the solvent to the tips of the bristles. By carrying out like this, a solvent can be uniformly apply | coated with respect to a bristle. If the concentration is less than 10%, the solvent may adhere to the base due to the stain.

  When only part of the brush hair is split (see FIG. 10C), the NaOH concentration is preferably 30% or more. Moreover, it is especially preferable to set it as 40% or more. At this concentration, the distance of the stain due to the capillary phenomenon is particularly small, so that only the tip can be split. Further, solid NaOH may be used at a concentration of 80% to 100%. However, considering the ease of attachment to brush hair, etc., it is preferably less than 80%, more preferably 40% to 60%, particularly 50%. % Is preferable.

  Note that the high viscosity and the high concentration are particularly higher if the viscosity is higher than the solvent that has been used in the manufacture of conventional brushes and the viscosity is such that the solvent can be adhered to a desired position of the brush hair. It is not limited. In the conventional technique, since the pile fabric is dipped in a solvent, a solvent having a low viscosity and a low concentration (about 2-3%) has been used. That is, a solvent having such a high concentration and high viscosity has never been used.

  A method for attaching a solvent to the brush bristles (solvent adhesion step) will be described below with reference to the drawings. In the following, the method of splitting the brush shown in FIGS. 7 to 9 will be illustrated, but the present invention is of course not limited to this, and as described in the section (1-1), other brushes are also described. Can also be used.

(1-2-1) Solvent adhesion process (A) Solvent adhesion process-1 to brush cloth
The solvent adhesion process for the brush cloth will be specifically described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 1, members having the same functions as those already described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing an example of a method for attaching a solvent. As shown in FIG. 1, a solvent 31 is placed in a solvent tank 30 and is held by a roller 60 so that the surface of the brush cloth 10 is convex with respect to the solvent 31. In addition, as the solvent 31, the solvent mentioned above can be used.

  The distance between the brush cloth 10 and the liquid surface (upper surface) of the solvent 31 is adjusted so that the solvent 31 adheres to a desired position of the brush bristles 14. By doing so, it is possible to immerse from the tip of the brush bristles 14 to a desired position in the solvent 31. A dotted arrow indicates the rotation direction of the roller 60. By moving the brush cloth 10 in the direction indicated by the arrow in the figure, the long brush cloth can be processed continuously.

(B) Solvent adhesion process-2 to brush cloth
In this embodiment, a method of attaching a solvent to a brush cloth with a roll coater is used. The roll coater is a coating roll provided so that the brush bristles are in sliding contact. The solvent can be applied to the brush bristles by applying a solvent to the application roll and moving the brush cloth while rotating the application roll.

  An example of this method is shown in FIG. 2, members having the same functions as those described in FIGS. 1 and 7 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof is omitted.

  In the method shown in FIG. 2, the coating roller 61 is held so that a part thereof is immersed in the solvent 31. By rotating the application roller 61 in the direction of the arrow, the solvent 31 is uniformly applied to the application roll 61.

  While stretching the brush cloth 10 so as not to sag, the brush bristles 14 are held in sliding contact with the rotating application roller 61 described above. By rotating the application roller 61 in this state, the solvent can be applied from the tip of the bristles 14 to a predetermined position.

  Similarly to FIG. 1, the long brush cloth 10 can be continuously processed by moving the brush cloth 10. The application roll is not limited to the flatly stretched brush cloth as shown in FIG. 2, and the solvent is attached to the brush cloth (see FIG. 1) held in a convex shape by being wound around a roller. Of course, it is also possible.

  By using the application roll in this way, the solvent can be uniformly applied by brush bristles. Further, when the liquid level is lowered due to the consumption of the solvent, the position of the brush must be lowered accordingly. That is, it is necessary to manage the liquid level. When using a highly viscous solvent, it is particularly difficult to manage the liquid level of the solvent. However, if a roll coater is used, even if the liquid level of the solvent decreases, the amount of solvent adhering to the coating roll can be made uniform with a blade or the like, so it is necessary to control the positional relationship between the roll and the brush. There is no.

  Further, in the method in which the brush bristles are brought into direct contact with the solvent in the solvent tank, when a solvent having a high viscosity is used, a sufficient amount of solvent does not adhere to the bristles, or the adhesion becomes uneven. On the other hand, when a roll coater is used, a solvent is applied to the brush bristles by the application roller, so that a sufficient amount of the solvent can be uniformly attached to the bristles even with a high viscosity solvent.

(C) Solvent adhesion process-1 for brush with base
As an example of the solvent adhesion process for the roll-type or flat-plate type brush, a method for rotating the rotary shaft around the rotary shaft by fixing the brush with the bristles facing outward will be described below.

  3 and 4 are a perspective view and a cross-sectional view, respectively, showing a method of attaching a solvent to the roll-type brush shown in FIG. In addition, about the member which has the same function as the member already demonstrated in FIG.1,8, the same code | symbol is attached | subjected and the description is abbreviate | omitted.

  As shown in FIG. 3, in the method for adhering a solvent in the present embodiment, a rotating device that rotates a rotating shaft is used. The rotating device includes a motor 33, a first rotating unit 34 rotated by the motor 33, and a second rotating unit that is provided so as to face the first rotating unit 34, and is rotatable with the rotation of the first rotating unit 34. 35 is provided.

  As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, in the manufacture of the roll-type brush, the first rotating portion 34 holds one end of the shaft 20 of the roll-type brush 21, and the second rotating portion 35 holds the other end. The second rotating unit 35 is configured to rotate as the first rotating unit 34 is rotated by the motor 33. By the rotating portions 34 and 35, the roll type brush 21 is rotated around the shaft 20 as indicated by an arrow in the drawing. That is, in the case of the roll-type brush 21, the brush shaft 20 can be used as a rotation shaft when the solvent is adhered.

  Further, a solvent layer 30 containing a solvent 31 is placed under the brush between the rotating parts 34 and 35. The solvent 31 is immersed from the tip of the bristles of the brush 21 to a desired position.

  Thus, by rotating the roll type brush 21, the solvent adheres to the entire periphery of the brush 21 from the tip of the brush bristles to a desired position.

  Next, a method for adhering the solvent to the flat brush will be described with reference to FIG. In addition, about the member which has the same function as FIG.4, 9, the same code | symbol is attached | subjected and the description is abbreviate | omitted.

  As shown in FIG. 5, in the case of a flat brush, the rotating body 36 performs the same function as the shaft 20 in the roll brush. That is, the rotating body 36 is rotated in the direction of the arrow in the drawing by the same rotating device as shown in FIG. 2, and the flat brush 25 is arranged around the rotation axis of the rotating body. 32 is fixed. As the rotating body 36 rotates, the solvent adheres from the tip of the brush of the flat brush 25 to a desired position.

(D) Solvent adhesion process-2 for brush with base
Next, a method for applying a solvent to a roll brush or a flat brush using an application roller will be described in detail with reference to FIG. In FIG. 6, members having the same functions as those described in FIGS. 2 and 4 are denoted by the same reference numerals and description thereof is omitted.

  As shown in FIG. 6, in the case of the roll type brush 21, the solvent is applied using the application roller 61 described in the section (A) while rotating the shaft 20 as described in the section (C). That's fine.

  In the case of a flat brush (not shown), the roll brush 21 in FIG. 6 may be replaced with a rotating body 36 to which the flat brush 25 is fixed.

  In the present embodiment, the solvent is applied to the brush hair using the roller 60, the application roller 61, the rotating device, and the like, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, by holding a brush cloth on the solvent so as to face the solvent and using a device that can change the distance between the solvent and the brush cloth, the solvent is supplied from the tip of the brush hair to a predetermined position. It can also be attached.

  A solvent can be made to adhere from the front-end | tip of a bristle to a predetermined position by the method which was illustrated by the said (A)-(B) column. Thereby, split-fiber brush hair having a desired rigidity can be formed. That is, when it is desired to increase the rigidity of the brush bristles, the length of the fine fiber may be shortened, so the distance between the solvent 31 and the brush (brush cloth 10, roll-type brush 21, or flat-type brush 25). It is only necessary to shorten the length to which the solvent adheres by taking longer. Further, when it is desired to increase the flexibility, the length of the fine fiber may be increased, and conversely, the distance between the solvent 31 and the brush may be decreased.

  Also, by attaching a solvent at a predetermined position from the tip of the bristle, it is possible to obtain fine fibers without unnecessarily affecting parts that do not need to be split, such as the base cloth and the bristle connecting part. it can. Therefore, a brush provided with fine fibers can be manufactured without causing fallen hairs or hair loss. Further, since the back coat 15 is not deteriorated, a brush having excellent quality as a conductive brush can be manufactured.

  Further, in the conventional chemical splitting method, the entire pile fabric is immersed in a heated alkaline solution to advance the splitting reaction, so that the solvent is severely deteriorated.

  In contrast, the method for manufacturing a brush of the present invention has an advantage that the solvent is less deteriorated because the solvent is attached only to the portion to be split. Compared with the case of immersing the entire brush cloth in the solvent, the method of the present invention immerses only the necessary portion in the solvent, so that the deterioration of the solvent is minimized. Thereby, even if the solvent is used repeatedly, the change in the dissolving action of the solvent becomes small. Therefore, the splitting process can be repeatedly performed under the same conditions. That is, it is not necessary to change the reaction conditions in view of the deterioration of the solvent. Moreover, as a splitting process in this invention, after performing the adhesion of the solvent to a bristle at normal temperature (15-25 degreeC), the process of promoting reaction by heating a brush (following (1-2-2 below) ) Column)). Since the reaction rate is slow at room temperature, this method has the advantage that the deterioration of the solvent can be further suppressed.

(1-2-2) Reaction process A reaction process is a process which advances reaction with a solvent and the melt | dissolution part of a bristle by heating the brush to which the solvent adhered.

  The reaction step may be a step of promoting the reaction between the solvent and the dissolving portion by heating the brush. At this time, the higher the temperature, the higher the reaction rate. However, when the temperature is too high, the brush hairs and the like are damaged by heat. Therefore, the temperature at the time of promoting the reaction may be appropriately set depending on the concentration of the solvent, the material of the bristle, the intended brush, etc., and is not particularly limited, but is in the range of 100 ° C to 140 ° C. It is preferable. The reaction time may be appropriately changed depending on various conditions such as the reaction temperature. For example, when it is within the range of 100 ° C to 140 ° C, it is preferably about 1 to 10 minutes, and most preferably 5 minutes.

  The heating method is not particularly limited, but there are a method of directly contacting a heater or the like with a brush, a method of heating by radiant heat of a heater, a method of applying steam or hot air, etc., instead of directly contacting a heater. .

  When the heater is brought into direct contact with the brush, a rotatable roll heater can be used. In this case, the roll-type heater may be in contact with the bristles like the application roller 61 shown in FIGS.

  Moreover, it can also heat using a slanting machine. A beveling machine is a device that imparts a desired angle to the bristle by heating the bristle. The slanting machine includes, for example, a hollow cylindrical heater, and a roll brush (here, a roll brush for convenience of description) is placed inside the cylinder, and the roll brush is in a certain direction with respect to the heater. In addition to heating the bristles, the bristles can be angled. By using this slanting machine, it is possible to react in a shorter time than using the roll heater.

  Further, the heater may not be applied directly to the brush, but may be placed near the brush and heated by the radiant heat. Moreover, you may heat only with a radiant heat, without directly applying the heater of a slanting machine to a brush hair.

  Moreover, it is not necessary to perform an adhesion process and a reaction process separately, and you may advance reaction by controlling the temperature of a solvent, performing an adhesion process.

  In addition, the method for splitting the brush according to the present invention may further include the following steps after the solvent is attached.

(1-3) Raising Step The raising step is a step of raising brush hair after being split, that is, split brush hair. As the raising method in this step, the raising method that has been used for raising fibers can be preferably used. Moreover, the raising machine conventionally utilized can also be utilized.

  The reaction process can also serve as a raising process. That is, in the reaction step, the brush is rotated at high speed while being heated by steam or the like in a state where the brush is fixed to a rotating device as shown in FIGS. By carrying out like this, since bristles are raised by heating and centrifugal force, it is not necessary to perform a raising process and a reaction process separately, and a process can be shortened. In this case, it is also possible to carry out the reaction step and the raising step using a raising machine that has been conventionally used.

  Specifically, for example, as an attaching step, the tip of the brush hair is immersed in a solution having a NaOH concentration of 50% and 20 ° C., and the brush is rotated at 20 rpm for 4 minutes. Next, using a raising machine, the reaction and raising may be performed simultaneously by reacting at a steam pressure of 0.05 mPa and an in-machine temperature of 120 ° C. for 2 minutes. Alternatively, after leaving at 120 ° C. for 2 minutes, the brush may be raised by applying steam only for the last 15 seconds.

(1-4) Cleaning process In order to remove the solvent adhering to the brush and unnecessary by-products generated by the reaction with the solvent, a cleaning process may be performed. The cleaning method in the cleaning process is not particularly limited. For example, a method that has been used in a conventional splitting method can be appropriately used.

  Also, the solvent may be removed by washing the solvent with a liquid such as water, and when an alkali such as sodium hydroxide is used as the solvent, a solution that neutralizes the solvent, such as neutralizing with an acid, is used. May be. Further, after neutralization, it may be further washed with water or the like.

  On the other hand, there is also a method in which a gas such as air is blown onto a brush or sucked by a vacuum device. This method has an advantage that the brush hair is not easily toppled.

  There are also methods such as scraping with a cleaning brush or wiping with a sponge or the like. As the cleaning brush, a brush made of metal or the like can be suitably used. When scraping or wiping off, a brush to be cleaned or a cleaning brush (or sponge) may be rotated. When rotating, a cleaning brush or sponge may be applied to the brush as in the application roller 61 of FIG.

  It is also possible to clean the brush with steam. At this time, the cleaning effect is further improved by applying steam and wiping with a sponge or the like as described above. Further, at this time, a solution that neutralizes the solvent (for example, an acidic solution with respect to the basic solvent) may be sprinkled on the brush.

  It is also possible to perform raising and cleaning at the same time. That is, it is possible to make the brush hairs difficult to fall down by centrifugal force by rotating the brush while performing a cleaning process such as applying air, sucking with vacuum, or applying a cleaning brush.

  However, the present invention is not limited to this, and depending on the purpose, the reaction step is performed without applying steam, and then the method of applying the steam to raise, the reaction step and the raising step with applying steam at the same time The method of performing and the method of performing raising and cleaning separately or simultaneously may be appropriately selected and combined.

(1-5) Shearing process A shearing process is a process of cutting the front-end | tip of a bristle and adjusting to a desired shape. In this step, a conventionally known shearing method can be suitably used.

  Below, the specific manufacturing method of a brush is demonstrated.

[1. (Manufacturing method of brush cloth)
An example of a method for manufacturing a brush cloth is shown in FIG. The manufacturing method of the brush cloth in this Embodiment performs the above-mentioned adhesion process, the reaction process, the cleaning process, and the raising process with respect to the brush cloth (before splitting), and then cuts into a desired size by the cutting process. To do. In addition, from a sticking process to a cutting process, a long brush cloth can be processed continuously. That is, after the solvent is attached to the brush cloth by the method shown in FIG. 1, a roll-type heater is installed downstream in the moving direction of the brush cloth, a reaction process is performed, and washing, raising and cutting are continuously performed downstream. Can be done.

[2. Method for producing brush having base
As a manufacturing method of a brush having a base, there are a case where a brush cloth (including before and after splitting) is fixed to the base and a case where brush hair is directly planted on the base.

  First, the case where a brush cloth is fixed to a base is demonstrated. When manufacturing a brush by fixing a brush cloth to a base, there are a method of splitting before fixing the brush cloth and a method of splitting after fixing. The fixing method, the shape of the base, etc. are as already described with reference to FIGS. 8 and 9 in the above (1-1) column.

  As shown in FIG. 12, when splitting before fixing, for example, a brush cloth that has been split and cut by the method shown in FIG. 11 (however, it is not necessary to perform the steps after the raising process) is fixed to the base. (Fixing step), raising step, and shearing step may be performed.

  Next, the case where a fixing process is performed before splitting is demonstrated. In this case, as shown in FIG. 13, the cutting process and the fixing process are performed on the brush cloth before splitting, and then the splitting process is performed. The splitting process is as described in the above sections (C) and (D).

  Thus, by dividing after the fixing step, it is possible to manufacture a brush in which the brush hairs are arranged uniformly and densely without going through a complicated step. The details will be described below.

  In the fixing step, for example, the brush cloth is spirally wound around the base and fixed, or two or more brush cloths are bonded to the base and fixed. At this time, it is preferable not to make a gap as much as possible between adjacent brush cloths. As a result, the brush bristles are closely arranged, and for example, in the case of a conductive brush, the object can be uniformly charged.

  However, if the bristle is split, the bristle becomes thin, so it tends to fall down. Furthermore, when one brush hair becomes a plurality of fine fibers by splitting, the number of the brush hairs increases and the brush hairs easily spread. Due to these factors, the bristle after splitting spreads more horizontally than the area of the base fabric, and easily protrudes from the base fabric.

  When fixing the brush cloth after splitting to the base, for example, when wrapping around the base, in the second and subsequent turns, the brush bristles spreading from the previously wound brush cloth are adjacent to the base. It is easy to get caught between the cloth and the base. When the bristle is thus sandwiched between the base cloth and the base, the fixing of the brush cloth becomes unstable, and the bristle falls down and the contact between the brush and the object becomes uneven. For this reason, when fixing the brush cloth after splitting to the base, separate the brush cloth and fix it to the base, or perform another process of raising the brush hair so as not to pinch the brush hair. Had to be fixed to the base. However, it is not preferable to leave a space between the brush cloths because the density of the brush hairs is reduced and unevenness is caused. Moreover, there was a problem that the manufacturing process of a brush became complicated by performing another process of raising brush hair. In addition, brush hair that has fallen once and has been wrinkled is unlikely to return to its original shape even after raising, and the quality of the brush deteriorates.

  On the other hand, in the manufacturing method of a brush as shown in FIG. 13, such a problem does not occur because the splitting process is performed with the brush cloth fixed to the base.

  In the case of a brush provided with a base, after the fixing process, from the adhering process to the shearing process, the brush can be fixed on the rotating device shown in FIGS. That is, a series of steps can be executed on the same rotating device without transferring the brush to a different work table or the like for each step.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 14, it is also possible to perform a raising process after a cleaning process. In this case, there is an advantage that the brush hair is less likely to fall in a later process by performing the raising process later.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 15, brush hairs may be implanted in the base by, for example, electrostatic flocking without using a brush cloth. In electrostatic flocking, it is necessary to plant thicker fibers when planting long fibers. That is, when trying to plant thin fibers, only very short brush hairs can be planted. However, according to the manufacturing method of the present embodiment, since thick fibers before splitting are planted and then split, there is an advantage that thin and long brush hairs can be formed. Needless to say, the same advantage can be obtained when the brush cloth is manufactured by electrostatic flocking and split.

<2. Brush>
(Brush-1)
The brush which concerns on this invention should just be a brush manufactured by the said manufacturing method, and a shape, a use purpose, etc. are not specifically limited. Specific examples of the brush according to the present invention include a conductive brush used for a conductive device of an image forming apparatus, a cleaning material for cleaning an optical device such as a sensor and a lens, a liquid crystal display, and the like. When used as a cleaning material, the brush hair may be insulative.

  Since the brush which concerns on this invention is manufactured by the said manufacturing method, at least the front-end | tip of a brush hair is a fine fiber. Furthermore, in addition to the cross-sectional shape of the fine fibers being controlled to a desired shape, the bristles have the desired rigidity. Furthermore, the contact points between the brush and the object are densely and uniformly distributed on the brush.

  Therefore, when the brush of the present invention is used as a cleaning material, it is possible to reduce the load on the object to be cleaned. That is, the brush has excellent performance for removing dirt without damaging the sensor, the lens and the like.

  Moreover, the conductive brush in which the bristle has conductivity can be suitably used for a conductive device such as a charging device (charging brush), a static eliminating device (static eliminating brush), or a transfer device (transfer brush). In the case of a charging brush or a charge-removing brush, an object, that is, a charged object such as a photosensitive drum, can be charged and discharged uniformly, that is, densely and uniformly. Further, there is a problem that the transfer belt is worn by sliding contact with the transfer belt, but wear can be reduced by using the transfer belt as the conductive brush of the present invention. Further, as described above, the object to be cleaned is hardly damaged.

  In the case of a cleaning device (cleaning brush) for an image forming apparatus, the image forming apparatus may be insulating or conductive. As described above, the brush of the present invention is suitable as a cleaning material and can reduce wear due to the sliding contact of the brush on a member to be cleaned such as a photosensitive member, a belt, and a rubber roll.

(Brush-2)
The brush according to the present invention is also a brush comprising a base fabric and brush bristles formed on the base fabric, wherein at least the tip of the brush bristle is split into fine fibers. The fiber may be a brush whose cross-sectional shape does not have an edge portion.

  Moreover, it is preferable that the said bristle is a fine fiber from the front-end | tip to the predetermined position between a front-end | tip and a base fabric.

  As a manufacturing method of such a brush, the manufacturing method described in the section <1> can be used very suitably. In other words, the conventional brush manufacturing method that mechanically splits the bristles cannot accurately control the cross-sectional shape of the brush. Moreover, in the manufacturing method of the brush which mechanically splits a bristle, it was not possible to prevent the cross-sectional shape of the fine fibers from having an edge. Also, with the conventional method of splitting brush hair by immersing the entire brush cloth in a solvent, it is not possible to control the length of splitting the brush hair as described above, and it is possible to control the length of fine fibers. There wasn't.

  Note that the cross-sectional shape of the fine fiber does not have an edge means that the cross-sectional shape has no corners and is rounded. Such a shape may be a circle or an ellipse, or a shape with rounded polygonal corners. Specifically, an embodiment of the fine fiber according to the present invention includes a shape as shown in FIG. 16 (a) to 16 (c) are cross-sectional views of sea-island fibers that are an embodiment of the present invention.

  Furthermore, when the radius of a circle having the same area as the cross-sectional area of the fine fiber of the present invention is R, the roundness (R) of the cross-sectional shape corner of the fine fiber is preferably 1 / 5R or more.

  Thus, since the cross-sectional shape of the fine fiber does not have an edge, there is an effect that the object is not damaged. Moreover, when using the brush of this invention as an electroconductive brush, since it is a shape which does not have an edge, since the concentrated discharge from a fine fiber does not occur, it is preferable.

  As described above, in the present invention, the fact that the cross-sectional shape of the fine fibers does not have an edge does not mean that there are no corners, but includes a wide variety of shapes as described above. That is, even if the shape has corners and protrusions when viewed microscopically, shapes such as polygons that are judged to have no corners and protrusions when viewed macroscopically are also included in the scope of the present invention.

  On the other hand, for example, in Patent Document 4, in a cleaning brush made of a velor material provided with pile yarn, the deposit is sufficiently scraped and collected while suppressing the occurrence of damage to the mating member due to sliding contact. The pile yarn is formed by split fibers and rigid fibers so that the split yarn can be opened to form a substantially polygonal cross section, and a straight edge extending from the apex. A technique for forming a plurality of fine fibers formed with the above is described. If the cross-sectional shape of the fine fiber has an edge as in this document, the object may be damaged by this edge. Further, in the case of a conductive brush, discharge or the like is likely to occur from this edge, so that there is a problem that the charging of the object becomes non-uniform.

  That is, as described above, the brush of the present invention does not damage the object because the cross-sectional shape of the fine fiber does not have an edge, and does not cause intensive discharge from the edge. When used for the above, the object can be uniformly charged. Of course, the same applies to the case of using for a static eliminator, a toner removing device, and the like.

<3. Use of brushes>
As described in the section <2> above, the brush of the present invention can be used as a charging device in an image forming apparatus or various cleaning materials.

  Hereinafter, an image forming apparatus using a conductive brush will be described as an example of a method of using the brush according to the present invention.

  FIG. 17 is a front view schematically showing the internal structure of the image forming unit in the electrophotographic image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment.

  The image forming apparatus records and outputs an image read by a scanner and data from an apparatus (for example, an image processing apparatus such as a personal computer) externally connected to the image forming apparatus as an image. Specific examples of the image forming apparatus include a printer, a copying machine, and a facsimile machine.

  The image forming unit includes a photosensitive drum 40 that rotates in the direction of the arrow shown in FIG. Further, the image forming unit electrostatically scans the charged photoconductor drum 40 with an optical image based on data input from a charging device 41 for charging the photoconductor drum 40 uniformly, an external device or a scanner. The optical scanning device 42 that forms a latent image, the electrostatic latent image is visualized with toner, that is, the developing device 43 that forms a toner image, the transfer discharge device 44 that transfers the toner image to the paper 47, and the paper 47 A transfer belt 46 conveyed to the photosensitive drum 40 and a cleaning device 45 for removing residual toner remaining on the photosensitive drum 40 after the transfer are sequentially installed along the rotation direction of the photosensitive drum 40.

  The charging device 41, the developing device 43, the transfer discharging device 44, and the cleaning device 45 of the present embodiment include a conductive brush. In the present embodiment, the charging device 41 and the transfer discharging device 44 include the flat brush 25 described in the section <1>. The flat brush 25 is a fixed brush that is held in sliding contact with the photosensitive drum 40. On the other hand, the developing device 43 and the cleaning device 45 include the roll brush 21 described in the section <1>. The roll brush 21 is a rotary brush that slides and rotates with respect to the photosensitive drum 40. In the present embodiment, all the conductive brushes of the image forming apparatus are the brushes according to the present invention. However, the image forming apparatus of the present invention is not limited to this, and the brush of the present invention is not limited thereto. It is sufficient that at least one is provided.

  As described above, the image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment includes a conductive device (charging device 41, developing device 43, transfer discharge device 44, and cleaning device 45) including the conductive brush described in the section <2>. ) Is provided. Therefore, the image forming apparatus according to this embodiment is excellent in charging, toner image forming ability, toner removing function, and the like. That is, a charged object such as a photosensitive drum can be uniformly charged, a high-quality toner image can be formed, and toner removal unevenness does not occur. Therefore, the image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment has good image system performance.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications are possible within the scope shown in the claims, and embodiments obtained by appropriately combining technical means disclosed in different embodiments. Is also included in the technical scope of the present invention.

  The method for producing a brush according to the present invention is particularly suitable for producing a conductive brush suitably used for a charging device, a cleaning device, a transfer device, a static eliminator and the like in an image forming apparatus such as a printer, a copying machine, and a facsimile machine. Is available.

It is sectional drawing which shows the adhesion process which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is sectional drawing which shows the adhesion process which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is sectional drawing which shows the adhesion process which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a perspective view which shows the adhesion process which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is sectional drawing which shows the adhesion process which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is sectional drawing which shows the adhesion process which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is sectional drawing which shows a pile fabric. It is a top view which shows the roll type brush which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a top view which shows the flat type brush which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a perspective view which shows the bristle which concerns on embodiment of this invention, (a) shows the bristle before splitting, (b) and (c) show the bristle after splitting. It is process drawing which shows the manufacturing method of the brush which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is process drawing which shows the manufacturing method of the brush which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is process drawing which shows the manufacturing method of the brush which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is process drawing which shows the manufacturing method of the brush which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is process drawing which shows the manufacturing method of the brush which concerns on embodiment of this invention. (A)-(c) is sectional drawing of the sea-island type fiber which concerns on embodiment of this invention. 1 is a front view showing an image forming unit of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Explanation of symbols

1 split fiber bristle 10 brush cloth 11 base cloth 12 weft 13 warp 14 pile thread (brush hair)
15 Back Coat 16 Sea Island Type Fiber 17 Fine Fiber 21 Roll Type Brush 20 Shaft (Base)
24 Flat plate (base)
25 Flat brush 31 Solvent 30 Solvent tank 32 L-shaped member 40 Photosensitive drum 90 Sea part 91 Island part

Claims (12)

For a brush comprising a base and brush bristles formed on the base,
A method for manufacturing a brush, comprising a splitting step for chemically splitting the tip of the brush bristles to a predetermined position. The brush bristles include a composite fiber having a dissolution part dissolved by a solvent and a non-dissolution part,
2. The method of manufacturing a brush according to claim 1, wherein the method further comprises splitting the bristle by including a solvent adhering step of adhering the solvent from the tip of the bristle to a predetermined position.   The method for manufacturing a brush according to claim 2, wherein the solvent has a high viscosity. The dissolving portion is made of an alkali-soluble substance, and the solvent is an aqueous sodium hydroxide solution.
The method for producing a brush according to claim 2, wherein the concentration of sodium hydroxide in the aqueous solution is 10% or more.   The method for manufacturing a brush according to claim 1, wherein the base portion is a flexible base fabric. The base is a base having inflexibility,
Before the splitting process,
2. The method for manufacturing a brush according to claim 1, further comprising a fixing step of fixing a brush cloth having a bristle formed on a flexible base cloth to the base. The base is a base having inflexibility,
Before the splitting process,
The method for producing a brush according to claim 1, wherein a flocking step of flocking brush hair on the base is performed.   The brush manufactured by the method of any one of Claims 1-7. A brush comprising a base and brush bristles formed on the base,
From the tip of the brush hair to a predetermined position is a fine fiber,
A brush characterized in that the cross section of the fine fiber does not have an edge.   The brush according to claim 8 or 9, wherein the brush bristles have conductivity.   A conductive device comprising the brush according to claim 10.   An image forming apparatus comprising the brush according to claim 8.

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